


sweet bravery

by nosfelixculpa



Category: Storm Hawks (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, Spongebob Voice: The Gang's All Here, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, basically 1k+ of my kids exploring the farside nd being soft, but also technically post canon, finn & everyone is dynamic duo, hinting at feelings ?, i guess like, i lov my kids, i lov one chaotic family who saved the world, implied feelings ?, its mainly piper's pov bc i lov my girl, let aerrow sleep 2k20, post cyclonia rising pt. 2, theres a lot of talk of Dreams that i didnt mean to link but I Guess.meme, we stan Good Leader Aerrow in this household we do not accept constructive criticism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24121285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nosfelixculpa/pseuds/nosfelixculpa
Summary: “oh, come on,” finn pleaded, eyes widening. “it’s either come and explore a place no one has ever seen before - or stay here with snooze-o, and piper doing the face.”“the face?” piper repeated, voice taking on a dangerous edge, expression thoroughly unimpressed.“yeah,” finn shrugged, like it were obvious. “you do a face, we call it your favouritism face.”--------or, a little snippet of what might've happened after the s2 finale
Relationships: Aerrow/Piper (Storm Hawks)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 22





	sweet bravery

“Never thought I’d say this but,” Finn began, speaking after what felt like an age of silence, snapping the others out of their dreamy haze. “Anyone for some recon?”

“I’m in,” Junko answered immediately, the entire launch bay vibrating as the pair high-fived before making a beeline for their respective skimmers.

“Just stay where the Condor can see you!” Aerrow called after them firmly, as Radarr leapt from his perch on the boy’s shoulders, scurrying after the duo. Only Junko turned back to send a clumsy salute, whilst Finn just waved dismissively.

“Whatever, dude. I call dibs on any treasure.”

Sighing, the two left on the dock could only watch as the friends departed into the unknown, leaving a blast of billowing wind and muffled cheering in their wake.

“That was very…”

“Careful?” Aerrow ventured, only half turning his attention to her as his eyes stayed on the figures steadily retreating into the distance.

“I was gonna say sensible,” Piper corrected with a shrug. “For you, anyway.”

“Yeah, well,” Aerrow started, a lighthearted, goofy grin appearing on his face as he straightened up, finally turning to face her. “It’s been a long day.”

Piper could only respond with a small huff of laughter. Understatement of the century. The situation wasn’t exactly funny though. Sure, they’d stopped the war on one Atmos; their Atmos. But what was to stop Cyclonis starting another one here?

Us, Piper reminded herself determinedly, mentally chastising herself for imagining the worst. It was all just a little…surreal right now. Honestly, if it weren’t for the breeze in her hair and the biting cold against her skin she would’ve asked Aerrow to pinch her.

“Feels more like a dream,” she admitted aloud instead, crossing her arms and rubbing her hands up and down in an attempt to ease the chill. She looked up when she felt eyes on her, tilting her head at his expression.

He had this way of looking at them sometimes - Finn called it his ‘worried leader look’ - and Piper couldn’t speak for the others, but something about the way his entire face softened, mouth gently upturned into a lopsided smile, while his gaze just barely shifted; had the ability to make her feel totally safe, yet entirely exposed.

“What?”

“Are you okay?” he asked finally, verbalising the question when there was really no need. The saying went, a person who wears their heart on their sleeve. But in the case of Aerrow, it was written all over his face.

“Yeah, it’s just, colder here than back home, huh?” she replied, hugging herself a little tighter with a smile.

“Piper.”

“Oh,” Piper realised, grin widening sheepishly. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

She planned to ask him more about what had happened. About Cyclonia, the binding, perfect attunement. About dying. But not now. Not yet.

“I promise I’m okay,” Piper reassured firmly, when he didn’t look convinced, feeling bad as she rolled her eyes. He had every right to be concerned.

“Now,” she continued as she surveyed their surroundings yet again, a fresh wave of excitement washing over her. “Let’s go see what the books have to say about the best recon spots.”

“We’d better hurry or else Finn and Junko might find them first,” Aerrow pointed out as the pair escaped the wintry climate and reentered the warmth of the Condor’s interior.

“Oh please, I bet they’re just flying towards anything sparkly,” Piper joked, not unkindly.

The mental image of their teammates charging around like madmen, arms full of shiny objects was so absurd yet so easy to imagine that the pair cracked up, laughter echoing off the metal plated walls.

Grabbing armfuls of scrolls and huge, dusty manuscripts borrowed ( _not_ stolen) from Atmosia’s library, they got to work, or rather, Piper got to work, sprawling paperwork all over the table in the bridge, simultaneously gushing and info-dumping whilst Aerrow mostly listened, offering the occasional noise of agreement or interest.

Not that it bothered her. This is how it had been for them for years, even before the storm hawks. Night after night, she would read up on some new crystal or terra and feel like she would burst unless she could tell someone. He didn’t really get it, she knew that. If it involved weaponry or reckless driving, then sure. But at least he made the effort.

“Hey, the endless caverns!” she blurted out excitedly, stabbing at the page animatedly. “I bet Finn and Junko don’t even _remember_ these, what do you think?”

Nothing.

She tried again. “Aerrow?”

She turned to him quizzically, ready to ask what he’d found in a different book that had him so interested, freezing when she found the sky knight very much asleep next to her.

Resting her chin in her palm, Piper raised an eyebrow, making a small noise of endearment in the back of her throat at the way he was positioned. Hunched forward on the table, head buried in his folded arms, but his face was angled toward her, so he had most definitely fallen asleep during one of her tangents.

She debated taking a picture, but feared the flash would disturb him. Instead, she grabbed her log book, carefully extracting it from a pile of paperwork:

_Squadron log,_ she started, same as always.

_First day on the Far side; the perfect time for recon, wonder aaand, catching up on beauty sleep._

Underneath she sketched out her little version of sleepy Aerrow, making his hair a little fluffier and his expression more cartoon-esque. So engrossed in her doodling she almost jumped out of her skin when footsteps clattered onto the bridge.

“Fear not,” Finn announced loudly, making Piper cringe inwardly. “The legends have returned.”

“There wasn’t any fear,” the mage responded dryly, glancing down at Aerrow, thankful to see he hadn’t stirred. “Now shush.”

“Whatever,” Finn brushed her off, wandering over to the table curiously. “And don’t shush me, what are you even..”

He trailed off as Piper’s sleeping companion came into his view, oddly dead to the world.

“Aw man,” Finn grumbled, face falling in disappointment. “We were gonna ask you guys to come explore but you’ve put him to sleep with your _total geek fest_.”

As he gestured to her total geek fest scattered across the table with disdain, she opened her mouth to argue.

“There’s a whole _jungle_ down there,” Junko interjected quickly, producing a handful of berries that seemed to be pulsing light. “Everything glows. Even the _food_.”

“Dude, you really shouldn’t eat those,” Finn warned, looking mildly disgusted, and Piper sensed they’d had this discussion a few times already. “Make Radarr try one.”

There was a high pitched yelp as Radarr snapped at Finn’s fingers, growling lowly.

“Stork,” Finn called to the merb who had been quietly minding his own business for some time now, glare still fixed on the far from amused sky monkey. “You wanna come explore?”

“Uh, yeah,” Stork droned, voice dripping with sarcasm as he turned away from the controls. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh, come _on_ ,” Finn pleaded, eyes widening. “It’s either come and explore a place no one has _ever_ seen before - or stay here with snooze-o, and Piper doing the face.”

“The face?” Piper repeated, voice taking on a dangerous edge, expression thoroughly unimpressed.

“Yeah,” Finn shrugged, like it were obvious. “You do a face, we call it your favouritism face.”

“We?” Piper demanded, turning to Radarr and Junko accusingly, causing the latter to laugh nervously.

“Y’know, Finn maybe we should just go withou-”

“It’s a compelling argument,” Stork hummed, whilst his tone of voice said it was anything but. “What’s in it for me?”

“We saw a ton of weird creatures hiding down there.”  
  
Stork’s ears pricked up at that. “Did they look…deadly?”

“Oh definitely,” Finn continued easily. “Totally disgusting. Definitely poisonous.”

“I’ll be right back,” Stork muttered, looking decidedly, well, sinister as he scuttled off to do, whatever it was Stork did. Piper didn’t really want to know.

“Catch you later, losers,” Finn drawled, throwing a peace sign up behind him before the doors slid shut.

At last, quiet.

Almost immediately she felt her irritation dissipate, picking up her pencil and twiddling it thoughtfully between he fingers as she turned back to the still sleeping sky knight.

“I’m very surprised you slept through all that,” she mused - and she really was. Most of the time he could be roused by a pin drop. Or less. “I guess you really meant what you said about it being a long day.”

It could just be tiredness, or it could be relief. Relief that they were all still here after everything.

Together, all six.

“Don’t worry,” she murmured, reaching over to brush a few rogue strands of hair out of his face.

“It’ll all still be here when you wake up.”

**Author's Note:**

> hello its me yes i Do only write for animated things thx
> 
> im back on my bird bullshit so please enjoy, might write some more Bits linked to it at some point  
> there's a wholeass movie plot rattling around in my head pls help
> 
> also pls hmu @massapeccatiblr on tumblr if u want to chat about sh or fe3h i always forget to Plug  
> im posting this at like,,, half 4 in the morning so if there are glaring mistakes call me tf out ill fix them


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